Wednesday, October 31, 2012

In a season that began with Brian Wilson going on the injured list (to undergo a second Tommy John surgery) which meant the bullpen was on committee and the hottest hand would be getting the yeoman's duty until further notice.

Guillermo Mota would be caught and have to serve 100 days as a penalty for being caught- a second time- having some form of performance enhancing drug in his system.

Tim Lincecum was struggling to find his form. Freddy Sanchez was having setback after setback in his rehab. But Melky Cabrera proved to be a steal of a deal coming from the Kansas City Royals for Jonathan Sanchez. He was en fuego (on fire) and his good play got him elected to the All-Star game and he continued his sensational play to win the game's Most Valuable Player award. The winning National League team would get the home field advantage for the Fall Classic, World Series.

And then the news that Melky Cabrera got busted for performance enhancing drugs. PEDs got the Melk Man. Suddenly there was a pall on the 2012 season. But what happened behind closed doors in the Giants' locker room was magical. The team felt betrayed. A man who they got along with kept something from them and that was not a part of the team mantra. Manager Bruce Bochy absorbed the emotions and was dead set against considering bringing Melky back once his 50-day penalty had expired. His team, the guys who were there in mid-August didn't need any more adversity.

Marco Scutaro, acquired for a player the Giants had called up earlier in the season (Charlie Culberson) because Pablo Sandoval had just undergone his second hamate surgery in consecutive seasons and more depth was needed for the infielders. More was expected from a gangly hustler who played himself into a couple of All-Star games with the Houston Astros and who was acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies for their 2011 pennant rush. Unfortunately, for Hunter Pence, the Phillies didn't have the intangibles necessary to capture the brass ring known as the World Series Championship trophy.

The rival Los Angeles Dodgers having already acquired malcontent, Hanley Ramirez, had broken the bank for a few Boston Red Sox players after Bobby Valentine proceeded to thoroughly dismantle an organization with loose lips and just overall bad body language. In return for James Loney and a couple of prospects (which could still prove to serve the Red Sox well because the Dodgers, like the A's, have always had a good crop of talent in their minor league systems) LA got Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Burkett and Nick Punto. All three established players.

But the group of guys who wear orange and black weren't fazed by their rival's efforts. Their goal was to win the western division and see where the chips fall.

When would the controversy of the Washington Nationals choosing not to play Steven Strasberg come in to play? You just knew it had to at some point. Because in baseball, unless you have the right mixture of players pulling in one direction somewhere, somehow, something will come back to bite you in the butt.

When Bronson Arroyo pitched 7 innings of one-hit baseball while walking only one batter and striking out 4 the Giants would go down 2-0 in a best of five series. But something happened that gave me a glimpse of hope when the "what if's" were spoken. Tim Lincecum was called out of the bullpen to work 2 innings. He gave up one hit, struck out two batters using just 25 pitches. Seventeen of which were strikes.

Game 3 at Cincinnati the Giants eked out a 2-1 victory.
Game 4 at Cincinnati the Giants won 8-3.
Game 5 at Cincinnati the Giants hung on to win 6-4.

Now they would have home field advantage against a St. Louis Cardinal team that manufactured one of the best comebacks ever against the hometown Washington Nationals. Insert Steven Strasburg controversy.

This was a game for the ages.
I have seen Bob Gibson mow through the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers (although the '68 Tigers had Mickey Lolich and they won that Series). I've seen Sandy Koufax work his magic in World Series play but this performance by Barry Zito was a classic that I'll not soon forget. Best performance by a San Francisco Giant pitcher when you think about what was on the line. Below is the box score, courtesy of baseball-reference.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Watching Gregor Blanco roam the neatly manicured lawns of AT&T Park made me think about Giant outfielders of the past. Large in part due to the quote by a Philadelphia writer who said "2/3 of the world is covered by water while the other 1/3 is covered by Garry Maddox.

Unfortunately for Giants' fans their team in those days didn't really have a plan. Maddox, a six-game gold glover was dealt to the Philadelphia Phillies for Willie Montanez. The year before (1974) they sold Dave Kingman to the New York Mets for $150,000. Zero plan.

From 1974 to 1977 their win/loss percentage was under .500
1978 they were at .549
1979 and 1980 back under .500
1981 and 1982 they inched over the .500 mark.
1983 to 1985 back in the familiar spot of under .500 baseball at Candlestick. And you know, like I know, Candlestick got much of the blame.

Along came Roger Craig and the mindset was about to change. They still didn't have the quality brass in order but they were finding more creative ways to win rather than settle for losing.

Enough of that. I like where we are now. We have the solid organization with good people running the team. Brian Sabean has a cast of people who actually know how to evaluate talent. Their draft picks may have always been good (Maddox and Kingman were both number one picks) but they were carelessly dealt away or got little to nothing in return. In other words, Maddox and Kingman had better careers with other teams than the Giants.

Nowadays the brass picks pitchers. Throw in a position player or two but for the most part their strategy is get the best pitcher you can. In the NFL or NBA sometimes you draft the best player available. For the Giants that best player is usually and has consistently been a pitcher.

Hey, I like that they drafted Buster Posey and some of the kids in their farm system show potential aside from the pitching. I mean where would the Giants be without Brandon Crawford or Brandon Belt or Hector Sanchez? Or Pablo E. Sandoval, signed as an amateur free agent in 2003? (Note on Pablo. Per the Baseball-Reference Pablo's nicknames are: Kung Fu Panda, Fat Ichiro, Round Mound of Pound and Little Money. Little Money is in reference to Benjie Molina being called Big Money. But if the Panda continues on his tear in the World Series he may no longer be Little Money or Fat Ichiro. He'll be Fat Check Ichiro. And while I guess it's insulting to be called Fat Ichiro that may very well be a tribute to Pablo's ability to hit a baseball.)

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Because baseball is all about the statistics I was surfing the baseball almanac and baseball reference and came up with this little tidbit about something that happened in the 1920 World Series. An infielder named Bill Wambsganss turned in the first unassisted triple play in World Series history. He had a teammate, Elmer Smith who also hit the Series' first ever grand slam. And the winning pitcher of Wambsganss and Smith's Cleveland Indians was Jim "Sarge" Bagby. He smacked a homer, pitched 9 innings, while giving up 13 hits only 1 run was able to cross the plate. Back in those days, the pitcher truly was the best athlete. But I must list Sarge's stats for that regular season to show the disparity of how the game was played in the Live Ball Era as opposed to today's "pitch count" brand of baseball. Sarge Won-30 Lost-12 ERA: 2.89 Started 48 games. Completed 30 of them. Throw in 3 shutouts just to roundout a heckuva season. 30 complete games? Pitchers don't do that in a career anymore and if a pitcher did he'd probably be handed a bus ticket to Cooperstown, NY.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

It just feels so good being a fan of the San Francisco Giants. You are seeing a bunch of guys who enjoy playing the game of baseball with each other and they are all pulling the rope in the same direction. This select group of men are happy to be doing what Manager Bruce Bochy has decided on for any given game and their skipper is not letting them down with the decisions he is making.

Bochy has established a set of rules that allows for physical slumps while mental lapses run the risk of the player being demoted or sent packing. With the exception of Aubrey Huff. Huff's was a unique case where life interrupted baseball and Bochy fully understood the circumstances. Bochy showed empathy and concern for his 2010 sparkplug because he believed Huff was straight up with him. We fans were all asked to "believe" in the Giants so it seems fitting that Bochy believes in his players.

Melky Cabrera, the All-Star game Most Valuable Player was not completely honest. That goes against the mantra Bochy has between he and his players. And while the Giants are thanking Melky (for giving them the home field advantage for the World Series) it is highly unlikely the orange and black will seek his services in the off-season.

Per Bruce Jenkins' 3-Dot Lounge blog I see where he reiterated something baseball guru, Marty Lurie, said and that was fine for the Reds and Cardinals. ('Bochy is managing out there. Mike Matheny is watching.')
But Tiger Manager Jim Leyland is a different kind of strategist altogether.

In Leyland's career he has led the Pittsburgh Pirates to 3 division crowns. The 1997 Florida Marlins to a World Series championship. And the 2006 Detroit Tigers to an American League pennant. His career tally for a job well done equals 2-pennants and 1-World Series title.

Bruce Bochy also has 2 pennants and 1 World Series title in his career as a big league manager. (1998 San Diego Padres captured the NL pennant.)

So this is the chess match we have going here. Who knows his players better? Who has the players that will deliver the goods? And we all know who is coming off one helluva roll. Game 1 is tonight at AT&T.

Like Tug Mc Graw with the '69 Mets, we all have to have our "Gotta Believe" mojo going because our Giants feed off it like nobody's business.

Let's take care of business at home and then show the world we can also do it on the road (not to be confused with the Beatles' Why Don't We Do It In the Road).

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

I missed the play at second base. But heard the Angel Pagan homer on dying batteries despite someone revving up his motorcyce, as if to say, "Look at me!" to those passing by on the cluttered streets of Valencia.

Then I listened a little further and Jon Miller's color commentating partner, former 20-game winner Mike Krukow, chimed in how the play was bush league. To which the former middle infielder Duane Kuiper said "Bull, " after expressing his educated opinion on the matter by including that it was unnecessary. Which lent itself to a newfangled word created by the in-the-heat-of-the-moment Krukow. "Well then that's Bush-Bull!" exclaimed the intensified Kruk.

Then word got around that on Pagan's homer it was said by Cardinal homers (Fox broadcasters: Tim McCarver and Joe Buck) that Pagan saluted the Cards as if to show some sort of displeasure on the Matt Holiday rolling over Marco Scutaro play in the top half of the first inning. (Turns out the camera angle was mistaken by both McCarver and Buck because he was saluting his teammates as he had done before after hitting one out of the park.)

For most of the night much of the discussion was how bush the play was and not 'good, hard, clean baseball.' Some even compared it to the Buster Posey play last May when he was lost for the remainder of the season. That in Buster's case the runner was trying to score a run and thought the best way to score was to knock Buster to the ground before he had a chance to secure the throw. Whereas Holliday didn't slide as much as he rolled over the much smaller Scutaro.

I suppose to Krukow, it must have looked like Victor Cruz (of the New York Giants) doing his Axel Rose gyrations after scoring a touchdown against the 49ers. If so, I wholeheartedly understand the angst in Kruk's vocal inflection.

But something much more important happened (according to Kruk). He felt that if there was a fog over the Giants as to what they had to do to finally win a game at AT&T it suddenly evaporated after witnessing the collision at second base. And then to see Marco rip one past Holliday for a bases clearing double was the icing on the cake.

Giant fans saw how the Giants handled themselves on the road versus Cincinnati under do or die conditions. Let's see if this really does add fuel to the fire that was already burning pretty well inside the hearts and souls of our beloved Gigantes.

Friday, October 12, 2012

All the factoids came out. This was the first time all season that the Reds lost 3 straight home games.
Posey's grand slam was only the second postseason granny allowed by a Reds pitcher since Wayne Granger allowed one to Baltimore left-handed pitcher, Dave McNally in the 1970 World Series.
Since the 2002 World Series, Dusty Baker is 1-9 in games where his team could have captured a postseason series win.

Now I'm looking up statistics. Why? It's baseball. Is there any sport with more stats than baseball? I don't think so.

Career Leaders in ERA for the World Series. Bet you don't know who is number one with at least 20 innings pitched. Jack Billingham. .36 ERA in 25 1/3 innings pitched. Some history on Jack. Signed by the Dodgers in 1961. Drafed by the Montreal Expos from the Dodgers in 1968. Was traded by Expos to Houston Astros because Donn Clendenon refused to accept the trade. Then on November 29, 1971 he was involved in a trade that changed the Cincinnati Redleg fortunes forever. Traded by Houston: Ed Armbrister, Cesar Geronimo, Denis Menke, Joe Morgan and Jack Billingham. For Tommy Helms, Lee May, and Jimmy Stewart. Damn, was Lee May that good?

Jack Billingham was also a cousin of Christy Mathewson. Mathewson was #7 on the Career Leaders in World Series List. Their stats were far removed from each other. While Billingham only pitched 25.1 innings giving up 1 earned run, 3 total. Mathewson pitched 101 2/3 innings while giving up 11 earned runs and 22 total. Mathewson allowed only 1 home run. In the 1905 World Series, Mathewson pitched 3 games. All complete game shutouts.

While numbers are something that may at times catch your eye and inspire curiosity to look up other notable numbers you really have to look beyond the initial numbers.

It's good the Giants beat the Reds. Now we will have to wait and see who they will face. Washington or St. Louis? I prefer St. Louis. Only because the Giants play good at Busch but not so good at the National's home park.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Henry Schulman made the comparison that Barry Zito's first inning was like Ryan Vogelsong's in Game 3, in 3 different ways.
1) Both threw 30 pitches
2) allowed 1 run
3) made a huge strikeout to keep the Reds from running away with the game.

Then to rub a little salt in Zito's wound Schulman went on to say: Unlike Vogelsong, Zito could not pitch hitless ball thereafter.

Meanwhile listening to KNBR (680AM) former 20-game winner Mike Kruko was lambasting the home plate umpires from Tuesday (Gerry Davis) and Wednesday (Dan Iassogna) for being unbelievably inconsistent and hitter's umpires.

You may remember, those of you who tuned into 680AM for the 2010 Giants run to the World Series championship, that Krukow's critique of the umpires was spot on with pinpoint accuracy and a heartfelt sense of fairness that allowed the home plate umps more leeway than they probably deserved.

The thing about announcers is all the time they are expressing their dislike of a home plate umpire's ability to call balls and strikes they aren't giving any leeway to the person pitching. In one breath they're saying how the pitcher is getting SQUEEZED!! Then with the next gulp of air the same guy is moaning about how Cain or Bumgarner or Lincecum or Vogelsong is "not even close." I mean, "What the hell?" Is it the pitcher or the ump, I gots to know!

How can you blame the pitcher for something he has absolutely no control over?

Now this morning, before the game starts, Krukow says that Tom Hallion (today's home plate ump) has a pitcher's strike zone. Which in Krukow's very words, "Cain will have a chance to see just how wide Hallion's strike zone can get."

What is it with the home plate umpire? Why can't they follow the rulebook description of what a strike is? Isn't the rulebook the umpire's Bible? As for the announcers, if you are going to the 'home plate umpire is inconsistent card' stick with it for all 9 innings. I expect consistency out of you like we expect consistency out of the home plate umpire. If you're going to bluff your way through the game you aren't going to earn my trust. Because you the play-by-play blowhard are not respecting my knowledge and understanding of the game. Know what I mean?

* Speaking of questionable announcers. I recall reading something about former Kansas City/Oakland Athletics announcer Monte Moore. You remember this guy? Talk about a homer. And he had a nickname for every Athletic player. Captain Sal Bando, Campy "Beep Beep" "the Roadrunner" Campaneris, Vide "True" Blue, John "Blue Moon" Odom. This list was like a top 20 list because the names went on and on and on and on. Anyway, Monte was said to be the pipeline between Charlie O. Finley and the players. He would pass on inside clubhouse information to the owner. In one case specifically details of a drunken incident on a team flight in 1967, which likely led to the release of first-baseman Ken Harrelson and the dismissal of manager Alvin Dark. "It's an automatic $500 fine if anyone punches Monte," said then A's catcher, Dave Duncan.

Note: Schulman mentions that if the Giants do win their third in-a-row they will become the first major league team to overcome a 0-2 deficit in a five-game postseason series by winning 3 consecutive games on the road. But, and I must emphasize this the Giants also need to reverse one trend. They have been 7-12 when they had a chance to complete a sweep.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

It doesn't matter how they won as long as they got the win. Giant fans should be somewhat used to torturous games and they're content when the orange and black come out victorious. In other words, the fans aren't particular about how things might seem because you can just as easily lose looking good.

Speaking of looking good, can everybody please let up on the Pablo bashing. The reference to the dinner plate versus home plate is killing my appetite for Panda. Send him the good vibes and see if he doesn't reward. Why do I say this? Because it happened to me many years ago.

I grew up with 3 brothers, all of whom were fortunate enough to be on championship winning teams. I, on the other hand was not so fortunate. It was through no fault of my own it is just the way things worked out.
It wasn't my error that opened the door for the other team to take the game over. In fact, my glove usually kept my team in the game. Although, I must admit, I was the last out in a championship game. I think we were 2 runs down and I was the tying run. That doesn't make me the cause of our loss but had I gotten on base our chances would have been kept alive. So I suppose I may have cost our team a championship win. That is, IF, the batter behind me also delivered. And perhaps the batter after him as well.

But the point of this was that my father never let me forget this. What seemed like every opportunity he would say, "You're a loser. Ever win anything?" Now he passed this off as tough-love but it ate at the marrow of my bones. My twin brother was always there to enjoy a tag-team type chuckle when my father would get on a roll of winning and losing. He'd point to the trophies and say, "That's winning." Then he'd glance at my twin and say, "You know what it feels like." And then with a smile he'd aim that grin my way and say, "DO YOU?" And a roar of laughter erupted.

When I coached I thought there were a couple of times to try "tough love." But when both of those young men's fathers approached me their reasoning was correct. Because had I put myself in their place, showed a little empathy, I darn sure wouldn't have wanted a coach to take that approach with me. And when I think about one of the dads, he turns out to be the person responsible for my playing Saturday softball with a team of personalities that has treated me with the utmost respect that I just realized you get more with kindness than the cold-hearted know-it-all response to a player struggling.

Pablo's busting his hump. It doesn't matter how big Pablo is it matters that he plays for the same team you root for so back him up. Support the guy. He gets hot, and it's not too late, he can still carry the team into the next round and quite possibly even further. No time for tough love. That's for the Bobby Knight's of the world. Bullies who seem to get some sort of enjoyment out of belittling others in positions of inferiority to theirs.

(Inspired by Steve Cresci. Steve may just be the nicest person I have ever met and I flashed on the days when I was coaching the Giants in the South City Midget Leagues. I remember him questioning my approach and to think I did it to his son just made me feel horrible. I thank him for questioning me because it made me check myself whenever the need for tough love crossed my mind. I think I shelved that approach shortly thereafter for good. I went the way of trying to reach the player on their level. Something that may have worked with me a whole lot better than, "You're a loser!"

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Beginning Game 3 with Ryan Vogelsong starting for the Giants it is time for the bats to get going.

I can honestly say that I did not see or hear much of Game 2. Critical boredom set in when inning after inning the Reds hurler looked like the reincarnate of Jim Maloney without the heater.

But after listening to the Giants broadcasters and the writers of the Chronicle, it came out that they were trying too hard. Nothing works when you try too hard. No matter what it is you are trying to accomplish by trying too hard you put much more emphasis on the task at hand than is necessary. Inadvertantly you lose sight of what needs to be paid attention to, a sort of visual distortion.

It's what I kept hearing and I cannot disagree. They seemed to be out of sorts and nothing will get you out of sync faster than squeezing the bat too tight or swinging from the heels when all you are ever trying to do is make solid contact.

Let's get us some Marco Scutaro. Ever since Pauly Mac did a song for Marco (with a Pink Floyd soundtrack)he has not reached base with the regularity we have become accustomed to and that is through no fault of his own. He was unreal and the cooling off period had to come because we as humans don't continue to play at his unbelievable pace. Unless, of course, your name is Willie Mays or Roberto Clemente. The great ones stay hotter longer, that's just the way it is.

I think Dusty wants to win now. He can only think back to his time managing the Cubs when he let the Marlins and Steve Bartman hang around. Bartman was harmless but his brain-dead efforts for a foul ball that didn't give his beloved Cub player a chance was just the sort of misfortune that happended because the Marlins were hanging around.

Meanwhile Bruce Bochy knows his players every bit as good as Dusty knows his players. He knows how to get the most of out them and in the friendly confines of Great American Ballpark I expect the Giants to match, if not outdo, the Reds in hitting the long ball.

My fingers aren't crossed and I'm not wearing lucky underwear. I just don't think the Giants are the kind of team that will let a sweep happen to them. They worked too hard, overcame too much to just go down in a heap, 3-0.